Electricity

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s power rates are now the fifth highest in the world, Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza of the party-list group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said yesterday.

THE Provincial Board (PB) asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), through the Department of Energy (DOE), not to act on petitions for power rate increase.

COMMENTARY The Philippines’ power cost is reputedly the highest in Asia. This is a severe constraint in achieving competitiveness not only in industries but also in services, agriculture and the other sunrise sectors, which could generate enough employment and livelihood to bridge the job gap of 15 million within the term of President Aquino.

The Department of Energy (DoE) will require the local electricity spot market to sell electricity from hydroelectric plants ahead of any other generating plants under a “market emergency” it declared until Friday as part of preparations for typhoon “Quiel” which entered the country on the heels of typhoon “Pedring” that dumped huge volumes of water…

We have the highest energy costs in all of Asia — maybe even the world. That should be a consuming concern for government. More and more sectors are worried that reducing energy costs ranks very low in this administration’s priorities.

Upon Aquino III’s return from his visit to the US of A, numerous local mainstream newspapers emblazoned the growing critical outspokenness of even the most conservative sectors in Philippine society. The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PCCI); the Philippine Steelmakers Association (PSA); the Philippine Exporters Confederation (PhilExport); UP National Engineering Center; the Trade Union…

A CONSUMER group on Friday accused Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) of allegedly conniving with Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to manipulate electric rate cuts.

STATE-RUN Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said it welcomes inquiries into the privatization of National Power Corp.’s plants, which critics claimed has failed to bring down the country’s electricity rates.

PRIVATE SECTOR groups on Friday urged the government to address continuing power rate hikes and an impending electricity shortage, claiming that existing laws and current policy have failed to serve consumer interests.

TUCP: 11% of income goes to electric bills MANILA, Philippines — The Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP) Friday called for drastic reforms in the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), pointing out that the Philippines now has the highest power rates in Asia.

BUSINESSES in Midnanao are clamoring for solar energy projects to ease the region’s tight power supply situation. In a position paper, various business groups from Mindanao called on the government to increase the volume of solar power that would qualify for tariff incentives.

The Department of Energy warned Thursday that Luzon and Visayas may have a “tight reserve situation” of 300 megawatts next summer and possibly brownouts by 2014 if the “needed” baseload plants fail to go online.

THE Department of Energy (DOE) said an oligopoly exists in the power sector more than a decade after the government dismantled the monopoly of state-owned National Power Corp.

CONSUMERS should start saving more money for their coming electricity bills. The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) both have pending petitions before the Energy Regulation Commission (ERC) to increase their power rates.

WHEN electricity from power plants is transmitted through the cables and wires to reach factories, offices and homes, some of it is lost. It is called system loss. The cost of this technical loss is being charged to consumers. This dissipated electricity disappears. It does not reach the consumer. But he or she is billed…

IN 2001, Congress passed a law intending to lower electricity rates. Today, there are pending proposals at the House of Representatives aimed at reviewing or repealing it. Why? Because that law has increased consumers’ electricity bills and made Philippine power rates the highest in Asia.

(Special Feature) MANILA, Philippines — The frenzied move to “green energy future” is a mesmerizing prospect to many. We all know for sure that the country’s energy demand will grow at a rate that it will require alternatives in the mix going forward – and that will entail plunge in renewables, albeit not exclusively.

(DTI) on Monday admitted that the high cost of electricity in the country gives foreign investors second thoughts about investing in the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines now holds the unenviable record of having the highest cost of electricity in Asia, beating Japan, Singapore and its more developed neighbors, House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada said yesterday.

Dominant power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) seeks to obtain the entire output of Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (RP Energy), which is building a $1.28-billion 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Zambales.

MANILA, Philippines – Consumers may have to pay higher power bills within the next three months once the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approves the universal charge (UC) application of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

MANILA, Philippines – Energy expert Alan Ortiz believes that the promise of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to bring down power rates will be realized in two to three years time. Ortiz, who is now the president of San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp., said that power rates would go down by 25…

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy has warned anew of possible power supply shortages in Mindanao next year, as the required power reserve level in the island remained precariously low at only 100 megawatts during peak hours.

More power bill burdens are expected as state power assets holding firm Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) said it is firming up the amount that it will charge consumers for so-called stranded debts and the stranded contract costs that runs into tens of billions of pesos that state firm National Power Corp.…

MANILA, Philippines – Electricity users may end up paying 39 centavos per kilowatthour (kwh) more in their bills once the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approves the proposed universal charge (UC) of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

MANILA, Philippines – Various electric cooperatives (ECs) owe the National Electrification Administration (NEA) more than P37.5 million in excess subsidy funds.

Sen. Edgardo Angara reiterated his strong objection to Republic Act 9136, the measure extending the term of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), which is scheduled to be signed into law today.

LAST week marked the 10th anniversary of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act or Epira, passed into law with the objective of reducing electricity costs for the Filipino people and which was forced on the Philippines as a “necessary structural reform” in order to continue to qualify for development assistance, by the International Monetary Fund…

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MANILA, Philippines –  The International Finance Corp. (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, said its $75-million loan to Energy Development Corp. (EDC) will help lower power rates in the country.